Hello, We’re The Giving Practice at Philanthropy Northwest!

You may have noticed a few updates on our website, including an evolved logo and other tweaks to our branding. Our refreshed look and feel reflect the exciting ways that we’ve been evolving as a practice over the years, and we’re eager to take this opportunity to re-introduce ourselves and share our journey.  

We are The Giving Practice at Philanthropy Northwest (also known as “TGP”), a team of mission-driven Senior Advisors who have been supporting a diversity of foundations, corporate programs, philanthropy-serving organizations, funder collaboratives and government grantmakers to best serve their communities for nearly 25 years through strategic planning, facilitation and organizational development. Additionally, we regularly elevate lessons learned, perspectives and effective practices that surface from our work with clients as part of our commitment to strengthening the field more broadly.  

While we once exclusively served funders in Philanthropy Northwest’s six-state region, we’ve since grown to serve clients across the country and in some cases even globally.  

Being a part of Philanthropy Northwest is one of our biggest strengths, as we learn and grow alongside a dynamic network of over 150 funders.  

Over time, our collective learning has increasingly been rooted in a sector-wide call to action to center greater equity in who, how and what we fund. In 2013 we launched our first peer cohorts for executive leaders on leading for racial equity.  Now, ten years later, we’ve continued the conversation on our podcast, across Philanthropy Northwest’s peer learning opportunities, and in our engagements with many of you who we’ve had the privilege of supporting.   

As we look ahead, our consulting and field-building work will continue to reflect what we’ve heard from all of you: a desire for support to continue translating your commitments to equity and racial justice to action, in a way that is most meaningful and impactful to the communities you serve.  

Our value and approach to supporting you remain uniquely "TGP," which, for our new friends, includes a few key attributes:

• As former program officers, directors and other foundation staff, we’ve been in your shoes and bring a deep understanding of the contexts, cultures and dynamics in which you work. We get you, and we’re here to walk alongside you as you tackle your biggest challenges.  

• We are a group of consultants grounded in a community of practice. This means when you work with any one of us, you tap into a wealth of knowledge and experiences across 12 senior advisors on our team – each with their unique specialty and subject matter expertise – and of course, our Philanthropy Northwest staff and the Philanthropy Northwest network. 
   
• We ground our work in facilitative tools and frameworks that invite individuals and teams to show up fully and do their best work. Often these are adapted from our favorite transformative learning theorists and thought leaders like adrienne maree brown, Otto Scharmer, john a. powell and many more, and other times we put our heads together to develop our own. Our Evolutions Exercise and Sort and Share Exercise are two of our most used tools, as examples.  
   
• Finally, our approach is not to fly in, tell you what to do and fly out. Rather, we wade into the work with you with curiosity, listen deeply and partner with you to co-create lasting solutions, keeping a strong pulse on relationships and culture to drive meaningful impact.   

Whether it’s developing your next strategic plan, supporting your board’s equity journey, providing 1:1 coaching or learning alongside you in one of our peer cohorts, we look forward to the opportunity to continue supporting you in your journeys of transformation.  

Please do not hesitate to reach out to our team at hello@thegivingpractice.org.  

With gratitude, 

Your Friends at The Giving Practice at Philanthropy Northwest